This invention relates to archery equipment and accessories, and is more particularly concerned with an arrow rest device that is mounted on the bow to support an arrow prior to and during release. The invention is more particularly directed to a multiple roller type arrow rest in which the rollers support shaft of the arrow on three sides.
There are many arrow rests now being employed both for hunting and for target archery. These arrow rests serve the purpose of holding the shaft of the arrow at a well-defined position on the riser of the bow when the archer is aiming and also when he or she releases the bow to shoot the arrow at the target. Typically, these are wire or shelf type devices, which have sliding or frictional contact with the arrow. An improved type of arrow rest employs lightweight, low resistance rollers to support the shaft of the arrow. A single roller version of an arrow rest, intended especially for bow fishing, is shown generally in U.S. Pat. No. 4,791,907, in which a single roller is mounted directly onto the riser within the window area. A multiple roller arrow rest is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,561,175, where two guide rollers are situated on a horizontal base member below the arrow shaft, and a third guide roller is mounted on a swing-up hinged member above the arrow shaft. The three guide rollers have axes that intersect one another in a common plane, and there is a space formed between the three rollers that is adapted to accommodate the arrow shaft.
These arrow rests of the prior art do not have any provision for right-to-left adjustment, with respect to the bow riser, and thus are difficult to center on target. In addition, these prior arrow rests do not take into account the fact that the bowstring, when released, moves in a somewhat sinusoidal path and does not move the nock end of the arrow in a straight line towards the target. Consequently, these prior art bow sights do not adequately compensate for any side to side movement of the bowstring and arrow, and cannot ensure a narrow pattern of arrows on the target. In addition, prior roller-type arrow rests have employed rollers with concave contact surfaces. As the rollers will have different diameters at different places, some part of the roller will be moving either faster or slower than the arrow shaft, and this can produce either undesirable noise or inconsistency in placement of the arrows into the target.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a multiple roller arrow rest that avoids the drawbacks of the prior art, and which helps the archer achieve consistency and accuracy.
It is another object to provide an arrow rest that is consistent and quiet in operation, and is simple to employ.
It is a further object to provide an arrow rest that holds the arrow in place securely on the bow until the archer is ready to release or shoot the arrow.
According to an aspect of this invention, a multiple-roller arrow rest is provided for an archery bow with the arrow rest being adapted for supporting the shaft of an arrow at a support plane that is at a fixed location with respect to the riser or the bow, and with the arrow having a horizontal axis and the support plane being perpendicular to the arrow shaft axis. The arrow rest assembly includes a mounting slide portion that is adjustably attached onto one side of the riser or the other, depending on whether the archer is right or left handed; a block portion attached onto the mounting slide portion; and a rest portion that is adjustably mounted on the block portion. Preferably there is a dovetail slide arrangement that permits left-to-right center shot adjustment of the rest portion in respect to the bow riser. The dovetail arrangement can take the form of a transverse rail in one of the block portion and the rest portion and a mating transverse channel formed in the other. These slide transversely, but not up and down, nor front to back. There can be a threaded cutout being formed in a surface of one of the rail and channel, and an adjustment screw supported in a mating surface of the other. The adjustment screw can be turned to slide the rest portion relative to the block portion. There can also be a horizontal cut through the block portion, and a set screw passing through the block portion across said horizontal cut. This feature can tighten the transverse channel and transverse rail of the dovetail arrangement against one another to lock the adjustment mechanism in place.
In implementations of the arrow rest of this invention, there are first, second and third guide rollers positioned for supporting the arrow shaft on three sides at the support plane. Upper and lower arms are supported from a main portion of this rest portion, and are also disposed in the support plane, each arm having a channel, e.g., a bore, extending along the axis of the arm. First and second support shafts each coaxially mount a respective one of the first and second guide rollers, that is, the support shafts each extend through the axis of the associated guide roller. The support shafts are slidably supported in the channels or bores of the respective upper and lower arms. In this arrangement, the first and second guide rollers are displaceable over a limited axial distance within the support plane but can move only in a direction perpendicular to a radius from the arrow shaft, and are not displaceable in a direction radial to the axis of the arrow shaft. Coil springs are situated over the respective support shafts between the associated first and second guide rollers and outer ends of the associated upper and lower arms. This arrangement permits the guide rollers to move out of the way when an arrow is being inserted into the arrow rest, and then snap back into position when the arrow is in place.
A burger button mechanism is situated on the main portion of the rest portion and the third guide roller is supported here with spring action to hold the associated third guide roller in contact with the arrow shaft.
In a preferred arrangement, the burger button mechanism includes a threaded tube fitting into a mating threaded bore in the main portion of the rest portion, a threaded shaft passing slidably through the threaded tube, a spring disposed in an annulus defined between the tube and the threaded shaft, a nut fitting onto an outer end of the threaded shaft, and a carriage that holds the third guide roller and which is mounted at an opposite, inner end of the threaded shaft.
Also, in preferred arrangements, the upper and lower arms are oriented at substantially a right angle to one another. The rest portion has upper and lower leg members that extend generally upward and downward, respectively, i.e., at about a 45 degree angle, from the main portion of said rest portion, and the upper and lower arms are formed at outer ends of the upper and lower leg members, respectively, and at substantially a right angle thereto. The leg members define vane passageways between the first and third guide rollers and between the second and third guide rollers, for permitting vanes or fletchings at the nock end of the arrow to pass through.
Preferably, the mounting slide portion is sufficiently elongated in a fore-and-aft direction that the rest portion is positioned proximally of the riser of the bow. The mounting slide portion and said block portion can be unitarily formed.
The above and many other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the ensuing description of a preferred embodiment, which should be read in conjunction with the accompanying Drawing.